What was your first off-road experience?

[Flip]

I bought my first wrangler, 2005 TJ. I installed some aftermarket bumpers, a winch, mud terrain tires, and I was on the way to my first jeep trail ( Big Levels VA) Slow & steady I was doing great but out of nowhere, about half way up the trail it commenced to rain and I mean like sheets of lead. The mud holes were filling up in a flash and I suddenly felt a very daunting feeling. Running solo, no cell service and my first time out. Yes, I know, not the smartest choice I ever made. I drove around the deep mud holes as water was gushing in, whenever I could, I stayed off to one side where ever I could, white knuckles and all, I made it. I was never so glad to see pavement in my life. My 4 banger, hard top, TJ did great. I was high & dry and I couldn't wait to go at it again. I did however check the weather more frequently on my next trip.

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[R4NS0M]

I’m the one taking the photo of this disaster. This was my daily driver and the first time we ever took it offroad. I told @Rotsam *not* to take it in that mud and they did and promptly got stuck. We were able to winch out, but I stayed so salty about the mess he made in my car. This was probably 2017

 

[AmericanPatriot100]

This was the first time I took my own vehicle off-roading. My wife is driving with my girls in the GC and I’m taking the picture! This was Tahuya OHV in Tahuya, Wa. Sitting on 18” factory wheels and highway tires.(circa 2018)

This was the last time I had my GC out. 2.5” lift some clearance mods to fit the 35x12x17 Wildpeak MTs on a set of gladiator Willys take off wheels! My dad’s 2006 LJ was what really got me into the 4x4 world. And we used to race dirt bikes long before that!

 

[MntGoat]

No pictures
1st off road trail I drove was back in 1979 Chiva Falls outside of Tucson, AZ, the rig?

"The Silver Chief" a 1979 Chevy Blazer silver/white with 2" lift and 12X15 Ground Hawgs or 11X15 Tru-Tracs I don't remember which one that time.

I had to sit on a phone book, I was 12 at the time, Dad was a member of the Cochise County 4 wheelers, mostly Folks stationed at Fort Huachuca

 

[munkeymike]

We were in Costa Rica and they closed off a major highway. The only way to our next location was 3 hours around a mountain or taking a small winding road directly through the mountain that was supposed to be quicker. We crossed rivers, huge mud pits (we walked through some/used sticks to gauge depth), people on horses looking giving us directions and pretty dense forest. We almost turned around maybe a dozen times but in the end it worked out and we saved exactly zero minutes. The rental SUV was a real champ.

 

[Twisted10]

79 cj7. wipers didnt work, windshield leaked, sometimes it ran. Beat the living piss out of it. Sunk it a few times. Flush it and hope for the best... I cant count how many times i walked to get help.

Best part, no back seat so I could hammer my gf.

 

[flick2614]

Jumping a '99 Tacoma at a construction site. It was Ohio, we didn't have offroad trails.

 

[LazyJL]

My first off-road experience, which left a big memory, happened in 1958 when I was a little kid. I got my first dune buggy ride out in the Glamis sand dunes in an old-school dune buggy built out of an old car.
It left a lasting impression.
Three VW buggies, a Baja Bug, three 4X4 trucks, and four Jeeps later, I'm still enthused.

The buggy looked something like this.

 

[C.Sco]

First it was my dad's Suzuki Samurai in the late 80's. It was stock, and it did not offroad well and, frankly, my dad didn't really know what he was doing. 35 years later my whole family still reminisces in horror about the time he tried to take us to Slickrock Trail in it. We didn't get very far, and shortly past the trailhead my mom insisted that her and the kids would get out and walk

My family didn't do much offroading anymore after that trip. My next series of dirt adventures were when I bought a WRX way back in 2003, and fancied myself a rally car driver on the local forest roads.

Around 2015 or so, when I tried to take my Audi S6 (A sport sedan with quattro and a V10) on Fordyce Trail (no, I'm not kidding, and no, I didn't make it very far, and yes, the folks in jeeps and SxS's were giving me exactly the looks that you think they did), I decided maybe it was time to start looking into something with proper 4wd and ground clearance.

But it wasn't until 2020 that I finally bought my very first real 4x4, a WK2 Grand Cherokee, and outfitted it with pretty much all the offroad upgrades that were available. I loved that thing:

But eventually I decided I still wanted more offroad capability, and I'd exhausted the WK2's capabilities, there wasn't anything left I could do to make it more capable.

So, now here I am.

 

[2nd 392]

No cell service ? Jeeeez, still had to shout into the rotary landline for long distance. Anyway, first bad experience was after I got my license and would take friends and play in the dunes by the river. Ran down into a quicksand hole before the biggest dune. Down to the hood in front but just the bumper in back. Another Jeep came to help, Nope, another, Nope, an FJ40, Nope. The FJ had a broken winch, but by using all the cable, chain, and strap we had hooked together the FJ got his wheels on solid ground and success…. It took a lot of quarters to wash the evidence off sufficiently so Dad didn’t find out.
BTW- I have upgraded my phone, even installed my first app.

 

[AK66]

Pine Barrens in 2003 Suzuki XL7. It did pretty well! Unfortunately no pictures from back then..

 

[dchemphill1]

Marshall Pass in Colorado. Easy trail but great when you have no experience.

 

[Mocopo]

No video or pics, but my old 1500 on hunting roads would be the first experience for me technically. Got in some hairy spots. First time in a jeep would be my JK, took it on a local trail that's easy and scenic with one or 2 spots that can be sketchy for someone with no experience. Nowadays my wife uses that same trail as our "Everyone is welcome Memorial Day" easy run we set up.

 

[jaymz]

Early 1990's. I had just bought a K5 Blazer and took it straight to some trails near my house. About an hour into the trip I came up to a sharp left. Straight would put you over the edge. About halfway through, the steering wheel was turning with no resistance, but the tires weren't. I stopped about a foot shy of going over. Turns out the previous owner did not tighten/install the rag joint bolts on the column when he put the body lift on and they fell out leaving me with no steering.

I was furious initially, but then I realized they could have let loose at 80mph on the freeway.

 

[west tex]

Late 60's in high school.

My friend's dad got a 1948 CJ2A - red with an aluminum hard top. We got it stuck in deep sand near a river. Took hours of digging to get it out. But we had a blast and I got the bug.

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